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Disability, Education and Employment in Developing Countries: from charity to Investment Kamal Lamichhane, Ph. D. Research fellow Research institute, Japan international cooperation agency (JICA) December, 3, 2014 United Nations, New York

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Background  15% of the world's population have some form of disability (World Report on Disability, 2011)  80% of them live in developing countries, making the worldwide disabled population collectively one of the poorest and most marginalized segments of society (ILO, 2007; UN 2006; UNDP, 2006)  Significant shift in approaches to disability:  Historically, people with disabilities were treated as passive recipients of support based on feelings of pity  During the civil rights era of the 1960s and 70s, a wide variety of strategies and programs intended to affect a shift from policies based on exclusion, with targeted charities, toward policies embracing persons with disabilities were introduced worldwide (Cook and Burke, 2002)  A paradigm shift from “the medical model” to “the social model” of disability  UN Conventions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (adopted by the UN General Assembly on Dec 13, 2006)

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Background (contd.)  Numerous studies on the importance of investment in education for people without disabilities since the late 1950s (Card, 1999, 2001; Heckman et al., 2006; Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2004)  However, it is still unclear:  To what extent disability-inclusive development programs have been successfully implemented in developing countries.  What is the effect of education for their social inclusion and economic empowerment?  What are the obstacles of schooling and employment of them?  How the government can design effective policies for their full and equal participation?

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Purpose of the book  The questions above are still not answered properly  Lack of empirical studies on the human capital formation for disabled people particularly in low and middle income countries  This book aims to at least partially fill this lacuna in existing knowledge by providing evidences on  the returns to the investment in education,  the effect of education on the labor market participation  poverty reduction  the barriers to both employment and education by the cases of Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Philippines

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Contribution of the book  The empirical works in this book will be important assistance for the governments and international agencies to design policies toward mainstreaming disability in the development efforts.

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Data and methods  Together with primary dataset collected, nationally representative datasets of Asian countries are used  Econometric techniques are employed for returns to education and to examine effect of education on employability, jobs satisfaction, poverty and determinants of schooling  Qualitative interviews and thematic content analysis are used to capture further information on barriers to education

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Life changes resulting from employment (Nepal) Any changes after getting a job? YesNo Life changes experienced Spending time efficiently Increased living standard Making new friends Gaining respect from people Discovering new abilities Increased confidence to face challenges

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Education & Parental Attitudes (Nepal) Parental attitudes Awareness of disability issues Understanding of rights of people with disabilities Attitude toward abilities of people with disabilities Very high/positive High Moderate Low Not at all/negative Total (number of observations)203 Average years of schooling by parental attitudes

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Concluding remarks  Persons with disabilities are poorer and face more inequality  To reduce poverty and inequality and achieve inclusive and sustainable development, give equal footing to the issues of those with disabilities  In Post 2015 development goals, people with disabilities should not be left behind  Exclusion of disabilities makes the society more vulnerable